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Steckel: Emanuel, legislators write Obama on RFS

Anne Steckel

Anne Steckel
(Zimm Comm New Media)

SAN DIEGO — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has joined federal legislators in writing President Barack Obama to urge him not to allow his administration to cut volumetric requirements for biodiesel under the Renewable Fuel Standard, National Biodiesel Board Washington lobbyist Anne Steckel told the group’s annual convention here today.

Emanuel is Obama’s former White House chief of staff. Steckel noted that 54 representatives and 32 senators had written letters critical of the Environmental Protection Agency proposal to cut the RFS volumetric requirements for ethanol and to leave the requirement for biodiesel at 1.28 billion gallons, which the industry considers a cut compared with production capability.

The industry has asked for a mandate of 1.7 billion gallons, the amount that the industry produced last year.

“The American people care about good jobs and reducing dependence on foreign oil,” Steckel said.
Byron Dorgan

Former Sen. Byron Dorgan
During a panel discussion, former Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and former Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo., now consultants to NBB, both said they cannot understand why the proposal to cut the requirements was made.

“I don’t think anyone understands how it happened or why it happened,” Dorgan said. “The Obama administration has always supported renewable fuels.”

Dorgan added that the administration will say the mandates they have proposed for 2014 still support renewable fuels.

Kenny Hulshof

Former Rep. Kenny Hulshof
Hulshof said he thought biodiesel “got caught up in the ethanol battle” and that the drought and the “monied interests” of the petroleum industry had played a role.

He noted that 72 House members have cosponsored a bill to repeal the RFS, but that one congressman has recently removed his name. Hulshof said farmers and others in the biodiesel industry should not be afraid to approach members who say they are in favor of repeal to try to change their minds.

Dorgan said that he does not believe Congress will repeal the RFS, and that if Congress voted to repeal it, Obama would veto it.